February Newsletter by Pat Prather

GREETINGS FROM PAT PRATHER

I hope all is going well and you have used the short breaks in February to rest and refresh. Now begin the rounds of senior activities which occupy center stage, heralding the last few months of the school year with lots of good times and memories for yet another class of graduates. Enjoy!

UPCOMING CAWS EVENTS

Come and join your colleagues at Granlibakken Lodge for an amazing workshop.
Enjoy a great learning experience with excellent trainers, terrific meals, time to meet with other teachers, and to enjoy the hospitality of Lake Tahoe. Check the CAWS website, www.c-aws.org, to see all of our workshop offerings, and hotel accommodations. Register on the website! Everything you need is there, including flyers to download for your convenience. You won’t find a better venue for your IB professional development.

ASSOCIATION MEETING IN BETHESDA

Your Board President, Robin Oliver, and I will attend the annual IBA Association meeting Feb. 28nd and March 1st at the IBA offices in Bethesda. News from that meeting will be given in my next newsletter or e-blast.

SPRING ROUNDTABLE

Bel Aire Park Magnet School in Napa Valley will host a roundtable May 23, 2014 from 8:30am -2:30pm Ellen Ahlquist will be the facilitator. Check the website for registration details, directions to the school, and the day’s agenda.

CAWS BOARD MEETING

Our summer board meeting will take place in San Diego at the Horton Grand Hotel on May 31st , 9:30am – 4:30pm

FALL FORUM OCTOBER 2014

Plans are not totally in place yet but the tentative date is October 26th in Sacramento. Bob Poole from IBA Vancouver and Rob Gira, Executve Vice President National Programs for AVID, are Co- keynote speakers as we look at College and Career Readiness: Where IB, Common Core, and AVID meet Plus: Bonus track for administrators: IB LCFF, and LCAP . Keep checking the website for final details.

LATEST HAPPENINGS IN CAWS

VIDEO COMPETITION FOR CALIFORNIA IB SCHOOLS

The California Association of IB World Schools (CAWS) is pleased to announce our first video competition for IB students. We would like our students to show their talents and positive views of the IB programs with a video of the theme “Why IB For Me?” The competition is open to any student or team of students from any IB program (PYP, MYP, DP, IBCC), but sponsoring schools must be current members of CAWS. Please look at the Video Competition Application on the website which includes a Video Release Form for more details. The deadline for submission is April 15th, so please let your students know of this exciting opportunity.

SERVICES YOUR ASSOCIATION PROVIDES TO SUPPORT IB SCHOOLS

Awarding scholarships to students, teachers, administrators - Totaling up to $17,500 since 2009

Sending newsletters every two months to inform all schools of the activities of the Association and of upcoming events

Sending e-blasts to schools with reminders of deadline dates, current stories or events not covered in the newsletters

Maintaining a website c-aws.org to provide information about the Association, calendars of events, registrations for conferences, articles from IBA, legislative updates on school funding, news on government and university recognition

Maintaining a database of all DP, MYP,PYP, IBCC authorized schools including addresses, locations, Coordinators and Heads of Schools contact information

Providing professional development at our bi-annual conferences featuring speakers who are specialists in their fields

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

5 DAY THEATRE PROJECT

Michael Winsatt, CAWS Board member, Diploma Coordinator and IB Theatre teacher at Andrew Hill High School in San Jose held his 5 Day Theatre project in late January and the event was very successful with seven schools participating. The winners and winning scripts are listed on our website. Michael expects to have even more representation next year. Contact him if your school would like to compete. This event is based on the IB theater external assessment called the Practical Play Proposal and an event that takes place at theaters across the country called "24 Hour Theater." Rather than have students do a play over a 24 hour period, students use one of three prescribed prompts for inspiration to develop original scripts. Participating schools exchange scripts. Students take all of the scripts and create an original performance, which is the final event before winners are announced.

LCFF and LCAP Legislation

Lee Angela Reid, Senior Legislative Advocate from Capitol Advisors presented the legislative report to our participants at the Spring Seminar Feb. 3rd in San Diego. Her comments as well as those added remarks by your CAWS board are on the CAWS website. You will find this information very helpful for you and your administrators.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA A-G COURSE APPROVALS

February 4th in San Diego, CAWS held a free ½ day workshop on how to get honors courses approved by the UC System. Dot Battenfeld,, our CAWS liaison to the UC’s, facilitated the session. Twenty teachers, administrators, and Coordinators attended.
Dot gave the guidelines of what to do and what not to do – several groups started working on courses and lots of discussion made the day a success.

SAD NEWS FOR US ALL

Nancy Forster, a long time Coordinator at Mid-Pacific Institute in Hawaii and first Office Manager of CAWS, whom many of you knew, passed away in November of 2013 after a long courageous fight against cancer. She and I began the CAWS IB Teacher Training workshops at Asilomar in Monterey in 2002 and continued working together and being great friends until her passing. Nancy was always dedicated to CAWS and to the IB. She will be greatly missed by all those who knew her.

FINALLY

“Our greatest natural resource is in the minds of our children.” Walt Disney

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